Sally Fitzgibbons and Carissa Moore Finish Top 3 in Final ASP Standings

Sally Fitzgibbons (pictured above) and Carissa Moore secured second and third-place finishes, respectively, in the 2010 ASP Women’s World Tour final standings after solid displays in the season-ending O’Neill Women’s World Cup of Surfing in Sunset Beach, Hawaii.

In two-to-four-foot waves, 16-year-old wildcard Tyler Wright from Australia sprang a surprise by beating world champion Stephanie Gilmore (third), Coco Ho (second) and Fitzgibbons (fourth) in the final in Oahu.

Fitzgibbons was contesting her fourth final of a standout 2010 season after defeating defending event champion Moore in the semifinals. The 19-year-old Australian was delighted to have made back-to-back finals in the competition, despite failing to grab the win.

Hugo Silva/Red Bull Photofiles

“I was stoked to make a final here at Sunset two years in a row, but the waves just kind of evaded me,” Fitzgibbons said. “I didn’t really have the rhythm and Tyler [Wright] was on the good ones early on. I hadn’t really surfed the point like that much before.

“It does get frustrating sometimes, making so many finals and not getting a win, but I’ve got to just keep moving on and keep building and hopefully get that win sometime soon.”

Wright, who was competing in the first Vans Triple Crown of her young career, moved quickly into the lead in the final, scoring the event’s highest single-wave score of a 9.57 out of 10 en route to the highest heat total of 17.24 out of a possible 20.

Gilmore, who was already crowned ASP Women’s World Tour champion for the fourth consecutive time prior to Hawaii, sees the young Aussie as a welcome addition to next year’s ASP Women’s World Tour and is looking forward to competing against her throughout the 2011 season.

“Tyler [Wright] is really hungry,” Gilmore said. “She’ll be a good addition to the tour. She’s really good and hopefully we’ll be pushing each other. We need more girls like that on tour and I’m looking forward to the competition.”

Julian Wilson and Ian Walsh explore the untapped potential of the 200-plus islands of Panama’s Caribbean archipelago. The trip was timed perfectly with a solid February swell, and the two surfers had...

Julian Wilson and Ian Walsh explore the untapped potential of the 200-plus islands of Panama’s Caribbean archipelago. The trip was timed perfectly with a solid February swell, and the two surfers had...